toil 1 of 3

toil

2 of 3

noun (2)

as in tangle
usually toils plural something that catches and holds a married woman hopelessly caught in the toils of an extramarital affair

Synonyms & Similar Words

toil

3 of 3

verb

Synonym Chooser

How does the noun toil contrast with its synonyms?

Some common synonyms of toil are drudgery, grind, labor, travail, and work. While all these words mean "activity involving effort or exertion," toil implies prolonged and fatiguing labor.

his lot would be years of back-breaking toil

When would drudgery be a good substitute for toil?

Although the words drudgery and toil have much in common, drudgery suggests dull and irksome labor.

an editorial job with a good deal of drudgery

When might grind be a better fit than toil?

The words grind and toil can be used in similar contexts, but grind implies labor exhausting to mind or body.

the grind of the assembly line

Where would labor be a reasonable alternative to toil?

The words labor and toil are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, labor applies to physical or intellectual work involving great and often strenuous exertion.

farmers demanding fair compensation for their labor

When could travail be used to replace toil?

While the synonyms travail and toil are close in meaning, travail is bookish for labor involving pain or suffering.

years of travail were lost when the house burned

When is it sensible to use work instead of toil?

The meanings of work and toil largely overlap; however, work may imply activity of body, of mind, of a machine, or of a natural force.

too tired to do any work

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of toil
Noun
Erginoglu planted over 11,000 trees along with installing water pipes - the completion of an incredible 30 years of dedication and hard toil. William Jones, USA Today, 3 Oct. 2025 The emotional toil caused by doomscrolling has been shown to cause real harm. ArsTechnica, 22 Sep. 2025
Verb
Several Democratic incumbents are seeing their young primary opponents boast impressive fundraising numbers as the party toils between placing its faith in its incumbent establishment or in a future featuring younger, more progressive candidates. Molly Parks, The Washington Examiner, 17 Oct. 2025 Keaton Middleton had the type of year last season that thousands of hockey players who have toiled away in the minors dream of. Corey Masisak, Denver Post, 24 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for toil
Recent Examples of Synonyms for toil
Verb
  • In service jobs, Black workers labored as porters, chauffeurs, and servers; in manufacturing plants, white supremacist pseudoscience was harnessed to justify forcing Black workers to perform the most difficult and dangerous work.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 20 Oct. 2025
  • The Bears labored much of the rest of the evening.
    Jeff Faraudo, Mercury News, 18 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • In my experience, this is especially true in the lonely hours of the night while struggling with chronic pain.
    Joni Eareckson Tada, MSNBC Newsweek, 25 Oct. 2025
  • After an effort to create a Falls of the Ohio national park fell short in 1967, Kentucky and Indiana officials struggled to stop the falls from becoming a garbage dump.
    Leo Bertucci, Louisville Courier Journal, 25 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • Sweet Vincent, written and directed by Ciara Boniface, centers a professional jazz musician reconciling with an old flame during a pivotal performance, both haunted by grief and striving for connection.
    Okla Jones, Essence, 23 Oct. 2025
  • The communique said Beijing will strive to improve people’s welfare and the social security system, but did not provide details on how Beijing intends to achieve that or where the funds would come from.
    Reuters, NBC news, 23 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • Unlike many recycling approaches, this method works across multiple plastics and even mixtures, producing gram-scale yields that point to real-world feasibility, as per the release.
    Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 27 Oct. 2025
  • The humanities program will work with the arts board's Folk & Traditional Arts Apprenticeship program to train master and apprentice Wisconsin folk artists in planning and producing public programs that showcase and contextualize cultural traditions, stories and histories.
    Jim Higgins, jsonline.com, 27 Oct. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Toil.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/toil. Accessed 29 Oct. 2025.

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